


Enforced Healing

by Merfilly



Series: Padawan Plight [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Healing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-06
Updated: 2016-11-06
Packaged: 2018-08-29 10:52:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8486578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: Vokara Che is not willing to lose a promising healer. When she is made aware of the incidents on Geonosis and the transport away, she sends for both Barriss and the other youngling Padawan involved, to try and help them both heal past the trauma.





	

The two padawans had been transferred to a ship on its way back to Coruscant, as it had been decided by Master Jedi Healer Vokara Che that she wished to be certain, for herself and the good of the Order, that the brain worm and its effects were truly eradicated from Barriss Offee's system. She wished Ahsoka Tano to join them for a first hand accounting of events, having read the reports and not been satisfied. That was the excuse given by the Twi'lek to both of their masters. That Luminara had jumped on the idea had led to a lengthy discussion.

In truth, there was nothing quite so clinical in the woman's agenda. She had opposed, from the beginning, the idea of sending any of the minors out into the war. While Barriss, technically, was of legal age, Vokara still considered her under the level of maturity to be able to balance the costs of continual violence against the good of the Republic.

The sacrifices that were needed meant Vokara was seeing an uptick in requests for emotional self-therapy protocols among the adult Jedi. She could not bear to see any of their young succumb to despair, and she had been intending to pull Tano back in for some time, given events on both Naboo and over Ryloth. 

When the transport arrived, Knight Krieth Nimpur was waiting for the pair of padawans, her vestigial horns showing under the neatly braided hair. Ahsoka's shoulders slumped; she had hoped to evade medical personnel long enough to visit quarters and psyche herself up for it. Barriss stood tall, her entire awareness focused inward, much as it had been ever since they had been placed aboard the transport.

"Come along, Padawans," the Devaronian Knight told them, turning on heal to lead them… not to the Hall of Healing but to a level below that, one that was quiet and open, filled with light and small apartments. Both padawans could feel other people on this level, but there was a muted sensation, one of deliberate peace and quiet.

"Knight Nimpur?" Ahsoka asked, always the more forward of the pair.

"Yes, Padawan Tano?" the healer responded.

"I thought we'd been recalled because Master Che wanted more tests and information," Ahsoka said, letting her curiosity, more than her confusion, come through in the words.

"I do wish more information," said woman stated as Krieth turned them into one of the apartments, making Ahsoka's lekku twitch in embarrassment. "Thank you, Krieth. Will you make certain to check on Master Nottar's rehab with the prosthetic?"

"Yes, Master Che," the Knight said, before she bowed and left.

"I apologize for sending someone in my place, but I wanted to be certain the apartment was stocked adequately for a ten-day," the Master Healer told the young ladies. She could see how inward Barriss had turned, and knew her instincts were correct… if Ahsoka's compassion could mitigate her endless exuberance. It was Vokara's place to understand all methods of healing, and in this case, she would be balancing a very volatile situation, given that the personalities involved could either mesh perfectly, or explode in a horrible chaotic mess.

"I don't understand, and I'm pretty sure Barriss would appreciate more information, as that is the only way to truly analyze a situation and move forward correctly," Ahsoka said, her words displaying a level of maturity and shrewd awareness that a fourteen… no, the child had passed her Name Day recently… fifteen year old Togruta should have.

For not the first time in the last year, Vokara Che cursed the galaxy's stupidity at large for allowing this to happen.

"I have brought you both here for recovery," the Twi'lek woman said bluntly. "You, Padawan Tano, have recovered from the Blue Shadow Virus and been through a catastrophic loss of people who depended on you. You were taken hostage and nearly killed by a man that had slain a Jedi Master. And you faced a near death experience on a planet that has claimed far too many lives from us and the men of Kamino. I am given to understand you also had to kill a man in self-defense because of recent travails. I find it needful to prescribe meditation and at least two sessions talking with myself or one of the mind healers in your case."

"I'm fine, Master Che!" Ahsoka protested. "My men need me in the field, not — "

"Tano… my word is final. Do you wish me to make it three sessions? As you are only allowed one session per week." Vokara watched it settle into Ahsoka's lekku that she was to be here a full ten-day at the least. The colors faded back, the lines of her face set stubbornly, and she was frowning.

Assigning the girl to Anakin Skywalker had probably been either the most foolhardy move in the history of the Jedi Order or the most brilliant thing they could have done for the pair who were far too alike in both recklessness and potential. Skywalker might be the Chosen One of prophecy, but every Master that had dealt with Tano was left with an impression of Destiny in her future.

"As you wish, Master," Ahsoka finally said, surrendering to necessity.

"Master Che, while I understand the need for tests to be certain I am healthy and uninfluenced, I believe my ability to release my recent events into the Force is more than enough —"

Barriss's words were cut off by a hand rising. "Padawan Offee, while you are ahead of Padawan Tano in those lessons, you are particularly of concern to me for several reasons. The primary is that you were at Geonosis the first time, and therefore experienced a severe psychic trauma by experiencing that many Jedi deaths in close proximity. The second is that you are a promising healer, and I need to be certain those skills are nurtured in a healthy manner. The third is that you shared Padawan Tano's recent events, beginning with the near death experience on that planet.

"I wish you to help Padawan Tano stabilize, and to be available to her as a healer, while you will have sessions with me on different days than she has hers. Two sessions, one each week, with a possible third to be determined at my sufferance."

Barriss did not sigh or roll her eyes as her younger friend might have. Instead she inclined her head.

"What are the rules, since we are not living in our usual quarters?" Ahsoka asked, her quick mind diverting to an understanding that they were under Healer care, even if they were not in the main wing.

Vokara actually smiled at her for asking. "Simply that you will remain on this level, unless you are called to your appointments with us on the one above. There is a garden down here, a therapy pool, an exercise room, and a meditation chamber. There are others in therapy as well, who you may interact with if it is mutually desired.

"There are simple garments for you both in the rooms. There is plenty of food to last the ten-day. You may not use your lightsabers, though I will not confiscate them unless you are caught breaking that rule. You may study subjects of your choosing, but you may not access the news while you are here." 

That got her a mutinous look, one that she glared down at the orange-skinned girl, until Ahsoka sighed loudly.

"We will comply with the rules," Barriss said in a quiet, emotionless voice.

Vokara looked at her, then back at Ahsoka. Her own lekku flexed two words, as she had not worn the bands on them for a purpose. She watched as the Togruta's face markings scrunched together, then widened, and a more halting assent was given via lekku. Typically speaking, Togruti and Twi'leki weren't fully compatible but some concepts came across in both with similar motions.

"Remember, Padawan Offee, your patient is very young to have experienced what she has. Take good care of her." With that, Vokara swept out of the apartment, closing the door behind herself so that they had privacy.

+++

Barriss stood there for a long moment, then looked at the shorter, younger girl. She struggled with what to say, trying to call to mind that she was a healer, that she was meant to help people.

Ahsoka had saved her. Not just once, but twice, she recalled. Barriss had been willing to die when they were trapped in the tank, not looking for an alternate solution. Then, on the ship when she had become possessed, she had pleaded with Ahsoka to kill her, so that she was no longer a threat.

Ahsoka had found a different answer for that as well.

"She's right, you know," Barriss finally said, as Ahsoka was actually being quiet, waiting for her to set the tone of the beginning they now had to make for their lives. They had to share living space, without masters to interfere, for a ten-day. It was an unusual situation, made more so by the fact that Ahsoka wasn't even a full year into her apprenticeship. Barriss, at least, had been training for years under Master Luminara, and occasionally with the healers.

"About what?" Ahsoka asked, her eyes wide and curious, drawing out the need Barriss felt to comply with her directive even more.

"You have been through a great deal and are not very old at all. Nor have you had the intensive training of being one on one with a master for very long, so you might not have reached the level of lessons in meditation that would be most helpful." Barriss looked down briefly, then back up, making her choice to focus on the directive. "I would be glad to help you with those lessons."

Ahsoka gave her a smile, impulsively reaching for both her hands. "I don't really think I have a lot of issues from any of that stuff… well, other than Ryloth, but Captain Rex talked to me about that… but I would like the help with meditation."

Barriss still hadn't gotten completely accustomed to how much Ahsoka insisted on touching her, on being in contact with people she spoke to, but there was something about it that pulled her out of her own miseries, and made her think, maybe, just possibly, things would get better before Death and Misery were all that existed. She found herself holding onto the hands that had reached for her, a small thought ludicrously suggesting they were lifelines to something better than what the past year had been.

"For now," she said, reluctantly letting go, "I suggest we both explore the rooms we have been given, determine which one we were assigned, and then get clean and wear the clothing Master Che had delivered. This is an immersive, situational therapy suite, and the sooner we accept all the conditions, the sooner we truly begin to work through the traumas we are here for."

"Yes, Barriss," Ahsoka said, before going to check the first bedroom, backing out almost immediately, before Barriss had even reached the other one. "Yours!"

"How can you tell so quickly?" Barriss asked, honestly surprised.

"The clothes are hanging where I can see, and they are totally you," Ahsoka said with a bright smile.

Barriss found herself returning it, despite all the failures in her heart, because she could not bring herself to dampen the girl's spirits.

+++

Meditation was far from Ahsoka's favorite concept in the Jedi repertoire. As it wasn't Anakin's either, she'd been getting away without doing it rather a lot. As she stripped and put herself into a real, honest running-water shower, she reinforced that this was as much a mission as any with the men, and that she would be the best meditation student for Barriss while she learned more about her friend.

Vokara Che's message had made it clear that despite her lecture on Ahsoka's trauma, Barriss was the real reason they were here. Ahsoka could not disagree, and while she would, for show, throw a little fit here and there, she would not fail the mission she had been given.

 _Help her_ was near universal in lekku. Too many of both of their species had been through slavery for that pair of word to not have solidified in the distant past.

Ahsoka closed her eyes, letting the water pour over body, enjoying the idea that it was washing away the war, if only for these few minutes she could take. Barriss's willingness to die, twice now, had worried her. Being told by the Senior Master Healer of the entire Jedi Order to help Barriss let her know that her instincts were right.

Ahsoka would not fail her friend.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work in progress, part of NaNoWriMo. Per the wikia, there is a four year age gap between the pair, and while I am trying to be mindful of that, the series is, most likely, going to end up Barriss/Ahsoka.


End file.
